David Hoffman Sells All ETH As Ethereum Money Thesis Faces Fresh Debate

David Hoffman, one of Ethereum’s most recognizable media voices and a co-founder of Bankless, has sold all of his ETH holdings, turning a personal portfolio move into a broader debate over whether Ethereum’s success still translates cleanly into ETH value.

Hoffman expanded on the decision in his May 26 essay, ETH Is Money Was Always a Longshot, where he argued that Ethereum remains a powerful network but ETH may no longer have an obvious path to a major structural rerating. His core point is not that Ethereum is failing. It is that Ethereum’s open, low-margin, rollup-heavy design helps apps, L2s, stablecoins, and tokenized assets grow while leaving ETH with a weaker claim on that activity than many long-term bulls expected.

ETH traded near $2,070 at the latest market check, giving the asset a market capitalization close to $250 billion. That valuation now sits below the combined value and economic activity Ethereum helps support across stablecoins, DeFi, tokenized assets, and L2 infrastructure. Hoffman’s essay put Ethereum-linked stablecoins at about $163 billion, while the broader stablecoin market has moved above $300 billion.

ETH Accrual Question Returns To Center Stage

The reaction was immediate because Hoffman has spent years helping define the Ethereum bull case. Bulls framed the sale as a sentiment washout, the kind of capitulation that can appear near major opportunity zones. They point to institutional access, stablecoin settlement, real-world asset tokenization, and Ethereum’s deep developer base as reasons ETH can still recover stronger market attention.

Critics focused on the value-accrual problem. Ethereum now offers cheap blockspace, with many L2 transactions costing only a few cents, but lower fees also reduce the direct economic pressure that once supported the “ETH is money” thesis. Rollups can keep large margins, apps can capture user revenue, and rival chains such as Solana can still win speed-sensitive trading flows.

That tension is already visible in recent market structure. Base, an Ethereum L2, recently flipped Solana in 24-hour DEX volume, showing that Ethereum’s scaling ecosystem can still attract live trading demand. At the same time, fresh ETH supply anxiety has stayed in view after an Ethereum presale wallet moved 2,000 ETH for the first time in more than a decade.

Tokenization keeps the long-term debate open. The RWA market has already tripled to $19.3 billion, and Ethereum remains central to much of that infrastructure. The unresolved question is whether trillions in future tokenized assets would create durable ETH demand or simply prove Hoffman’s argument that Ethereum can win as public infrastructure while ETH captures only part of the upside.

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